Obtaining the location of a user of a mobile device in a mobile telecommunication system via a LCS (LoCation Service) is possible e.g. according to 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 23.272 Version (V)5.3.0, Release 5, published June 2002 (2002-06). In a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) or UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) system, the location of the user can be determined using accurate radio signal measurements and a position estimate computation based on the measurements. The location of the user may be indicated by a geographical coordinate with the accuracy of a few meters.
The mobile device can request its own location and can send its location via a GMLC (Gateway Mobile Location Center) to a LCS client, e.g. for using a LBS (Location Based Service). A location request initiated by the mobile device is also named MO-LR (Mobile Originating Location Request) and can be carried out in the CS (Circuit Switched) domain, i.e. CS-MO-LR, as well as in the PS (Packet Switched) domain, i.e. PS-MO-LR.
If the mobile device is requesting that its own location is to be sent to a LCS client, the mobile device can send a service invoke message to a VMSC/MSC (Visited Mobile services Switching Center/Mobile services Switching Center) for a CS-MO-LR or to a SGSN (Serving General packet radio service Support Node) for PS-MO-LR or to both. The service invoke message includes the identity of the LCS client and optionally the address of the GMLC. If the GMLC address is not included, the VMSC/MSC or the SGSN, respectively, may assign its own GMLC address and may verify that the identified LCS client is supported by this GMLC. If a GMLC address is not available for this case, the VMSC/MSC or the SGSN, respectively, can reject the MO-LR. Else, the VMSC/MSC or the SGSN sends a MAP (Mobile Application Part) subscriber location report or subscriber LCS report message, respectively, comprising the MSISDN (Mobile Station Integrated Services Digital Network Number) or PDP (Packet Data Protocol) address of the mobile device, the identity of the LCS client and further information like a location estimate of the mobile device, the event causing the location estimate and the age of the location estimate. On receipt of the subscriber LCS report message, the GMLC sends the location of the mobile device to the LCS client.
MO-LR mechanisms as described so far are capable to address only one LCS client for one MO-LR. Addressing of multiple LCS clients requires multiple MO-LRs, which is time and resource consuming. Furthermore, an identity of the LCS client must be known to the mobile device to be included in the service invoke message. This strongly limits the application of the present MO-LR mechanisms to known LCS clients. In addition, the present MO-LR mechanisms only allow to send the location of a mobile device to a LCS client preventing the LCS client to provide service information to the user of the mobile device in response to the receipt of the location information.